On the positive side, the Phillies as of 10:20pm are beating the Rays, despite FOX Sport’s biased coverage. I guess they haven’t forgotten our warm Philly welcome to Palin.

Unfortunately my mother listens to his radio program while we’re in the car, and I’d just like to clarify that the paramilitary Obama force he’s talking about — it’s called “stepping,” a dance performed by members of traditionally black Greek organizations… scary, huh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepping_(African-American)

And of course, this is the same guy who will then claim that the idea that “multiple Americas” exist is ridiculous.

I think passing card-check would be a gift to Republicans in states that temporarily have been pushed by the economic crisis into the Democratic column, such as Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia, but that are right-to-work states. It’s an easy campaign ad: “See what coerced unionization has done to Michigan’s auto industry. New auto plants are being built in America — in right-to-work states like Alabama, Kentucky and Texas. Democrats have sold out job growth in order to corral votes from union workers. Don’t let them destroy American industry to help out special interests.” Look at where population is moving and where the 2010 census will continue to shift electoral votes; I don’t think it’s going to be toward the Rust Belt.

My favorite part of the Dobson article was the idea that a Christian would find the loss of his handguns on par, as a religious tragedy, with the loss of his ability to spread the Word of God. For anyone wondering WWJD, I don’t think “Head shots, head shots…. Kill the sons of bitches” (in the words of McCain friend G. Gordon Liddy) would be it.

I’m an absolute believer that the best ultimate scenario would be for America to have two responsible parties — one center-left, one center-right — both of which accept that there are always limits to the effectiveness of one’s core philosophy.

I agree with this, but with the proviso that the Democrats, by world standards, are the center-right party. What we’re lacking is any left party at all.

Unlike past Democrat presidential candidates, Obama is a hardened ideologue. He’s not interested in playing around the edges. He seeks “fundamental change,” i.e., to remake society. And if the Democrats control Congress with super-majorities led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, he will get much of what he demands.

But what he’s really afraid of is an electorate that understands this - and votes for it. He claims he’s afraid of a result that will surprise the electorate, but he really should be fearful that the electorate knows that it wants “fundamental change”.

Thank you for noting this. In the annoyance with how hysterical certain Republicans are getting, liberals have been painting conservatism with too broad a brush, insisting that it’s always been playing to our worst impulses. I don’t think a “permanent Democratic majority,” one that need make no compromises with Republicans or even conservative Democrats, is the boon it’s being sold as, and moreover it’s likely to lead to a rejection of the Dems if the first 100 days of an Obama administration is occupied with redeeming various IOUs like the passage of card-check. (Remember 1994?)

I feel genuinely sad for Republicans like Charles Fried who feel compelled to vote for Obama, even though they disagree with him on everything from con law to corporate tax rates, because the GOP has frankly gone into the toilet and Fried et al. cannot bear to lower themselves with the party. I hope we see a renaissance of his kind, the folks who think a familiarity with Edmund Burke or at least the Constitution is a reasonable prerequisite for conservative national leadership.

Incidentally, it occurred to me tonight that the Palin pick is much like the Miers nomination. In both cases, a Republican felt obliged to pick a woman (Bush because the justice would be replacing O’Connor; McCain in order to attract disaffected Clinton supporters). Unfortunately, the pick doesn’t get the support that’s expected because it was so obviously made with no care whatsoever; a dozen competent, fully eligible women are passed over in favor of someone who’s “loyal” (in Miers’s case) or “charismatic” (in Palin’s case). It’s like when Salon felt required to print a conservative — so they picked a lunatic like David Horowitz. Such decisions don’t show that one respects the group of people one supposedly is trying to include; it’s an even more glaring sign of contempt than omitting a person from that group entirely.

I suppose I should be glad the GOP doesn’t seem to be doing this with race. Even Alan Keyes, despite being batshit crazy, is sort of intelligent in an academic sense; I think Justice Thomas, although perhaps not exhibiting as full a record of achievement as we saw from Roberts (never mind Ginsberg and Breyer) prior to his elevation to the Court, has shown that he’s not completely out of his league. After seeing Miers proposed for the Supreme Court and Palin for McCain’s heartbeat away from the presidency, I’m too depressed about what the GOP evidently thinks about women, to want to contemplate what the equivalent “outreach to African Americans” pick might look like.